“The country is facing an existential threat of a kind not seen in its history,” Yishai, whose Orthodox party is a junior partner in the coalition government led by Olmert’s centrist Kadima, told reporters in reference to spiraling violence in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

But Olmert and Netanyahu, a former prime minister who has made no secret of wanting to retake the top office, apparently remained comfortable as adversaries.

In separate statements, Netanyahu accused the government of being soft on security while Olmert said “certain members of the opposition” were preaching what they would not practice if they were in power.